


Blood and Moonlight

by Rosehip



Series: Strange Luck [14]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Angst, Blood, Canonical Character Death, Gen, The Joining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 15:03:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21304046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosehip/pseuds/Rosehip
Summary: Duncan needed every Warden. He allowed himself to hope he would get them. He won't. There is no getting used to this.Fulfills Halloween prompt: Death.
Series: Strange Luck [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/519361
Comments: 10
Kudos: 9
Collections: Zevraholics Anonymous October Challenge 2019





	Blood and Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to [Starla-Nell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princess_Nell/pseuds/Starla-Nell) for taking a look at this in advance.

Daveth thrashed upon the cold stone of the old keep, gasping for breath. His head knocked against the ground, spraying red blood that would never, now, turn black. He went still with merciful speed, after that.

“I am sorry, Daveth,” he murmured. He had thought... they were so much alike. It seemed destined that this boy, so close to the son he could never have fathered, would make it. Could become the next generation of himself, to plague the elder generation and push the Fereldan Wardens in a less rigid direction. He had allowed himself to hope, too much.

Duncan knew better. He did. Anything could happen where the Joining was concerned. It had no room for his sentimentality.

Daveth's loss cost them Jory, as well. Duncan saw it in the foolish man's eyes, in his pale complexion washed paler by shock and the moonlight. Duncan set the chalice down in preparation. Any second, Jory would attack. He stammered about the life he should have been living, the one he never realized was _gone _the moment his boots joined Duncan's in the mud of the road. Duncan hardened his heart. He could not release Jory, to spread what he had seen. Distrust hounded the Wardens as it was, with reason. But they were necessary. Jory's strength had been _so needed_. They would have to do without it. Duncan's dagger slid between the sections of Jory's mail. “I am sorry, Jory,” he whispered. It was true.

With rising dread, Duncan turned to his last recruit. They needed him the most. The Wardens had _no_ mages. Could someone raised as Irving's favorite stand to witness what he just had? The sheltered boy had too soft a heart...

But no, Surana was made of the same steel as Fiona. Duncan might have known better there, too. She told him and told him that the Tower had mercy for none. Surana's features froze into an arrogant mask as he reached for the chalice before Duncan could even retrieve it. He drank.

The boy's eyes rolled back in his head, he fell to his knees, and screamed fit to wake... well, nevermind.

Duncan sighed in relief. If someone had air to scream, they'd make it. Within minutes, Surana fell deeply asleep. His body needed to, as it dealt with the first of the changes.

Alistair collapsed on a stone bench and lay his head in his hands. “Thank the Maker,” he sighed.

Duncan thought he saw himself and Fiona in Daveth and Surana, so quickly fond of one another, and apt to cause trouble and drive everyone mad. It wasn't to be, but Duncan saw what would. “You're his friend, aren't you?” Duncan asked Alistair. “He'll need one.” _So do you, and it can't be me for much longer.  
_

Alistair looked up. He thought for a moment before speaking. “Idunno. We were, as much as we could be. But... things are different, now.”

“Alistair, they always are. Nothing stays in place.” Duncan regarded the splatters of dark blood on the moon-bright marble.

“You're... you're going to team us up, aren't you?”

“Yes. I hadn't decided, but things are as they are.”

Alistair stared at the stone in front of them. After a moment, he nodded. “We should...” he gestured.

Duncan stood. “Build a pyre. Yes.” The work was as necessary as Wardens, but it also kept them occupied while they waited for their sole recruit to wake.

He would, today. Tomorrow was anyone's guess.


End file.
